Shabelle Bank tests with ILO support innovative product for financial inclusion of hosts and forcibly displaced in Ethiopia: The ILO and Shabelle Bank in Ethiopia have started a new partnership to enhance financial inclusion for hosts and refugees in Ethiopia's Somali region. This collaboration, as part of the PROSPECTS project, will see the launch of tailored financial products, addressing critical service gaps impacting over 916,000 refugees in Ethiopia.

Invitation to Contribute to Research! Are you interested in taking part in a Master’s research under the University of Cambridge? Can you contribute to the research question of "How the private sector can facilitate the scaling of refugee-owned businesses in refugee camps”? If yes, we'd love to hear from you! We're conducting interviews with refugee entrepreneurs, NGOs, RLOs involved in livelihood programs, and private sector representatives to develop a comprehensive framework. Reach out to bg458@cam.ac.uk to share your valuable insights!

At the beginning of 2023, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, set out to better understand what does and does not work for refugees at each phase of their engagement with the digital economy — from preparatory training to working — and what solutions they think humanitarian and development actors should be pushing forward to make working online a safer, more inclusive route toward self-reliance. In partnership with behavior change lab 17 Triggers, UNHCR conducted a series of community-based workshops across seven countries over five months. For each country, one urban and one camp-based location were selected. The resulting research series — Improving Digital Livelihood Opportunities for Refugees: Using community-based workshops to co-create solutions — is a foundational element of the PROSPECTS Partnership project on the Promotion, Inclusion and Protection of Refugees in the Gig Economy. The project is jointly implemented with the International Labour Organization and funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands through its PROSPECTS Opportunity Fund. Read the report here: https://rb.gy/te2jsb and the blog here: https://rb.gy/p2uvps

Launch of the new edition of UNHCR Emergency Handbook: A UNHCR guide to agile, effective and community based humanitarian emergency responses - since its first edition in 1982, UNHCR’s Emergency Handbook has continued to offer guidance and practical tools to UNHCR’s emergency responders. https://emergency.unhcr.org/

CGIAR pledge at Global Refugee Forum 2023: Promote climate resilience and sustainable livelihoods in fragile and conflict‐affected settings: CGIAR has pledged to enhance the climate resilience of and humanitarian responses to refugees, host communities, and other displaced peoples in fragile and conflict-affected settings. This commitment is channeled through the CGIAR Research Initiative on Fragility, Conflict, and Migration (FCM). Read more here: http://tinyurl.com/24mrmpta

Refugee-led Initiatives sent a strong message for Climate Action at GRF 2023: As the Global Refugee-Led Network actively participated in the GRF 2023, the stage was set for a global dialogue that transcends borders, fostering a future where every voice counts in the fight against climate change. Together, these entities forge a path towards a tomorrow that is sustainable, inclusive, and shaped by the collective voice of the displaced, contributing significantly to the ongoing initiatives on inclusive climate action. Read more here: http://tinyurl.com/4vw89z5b

Top Organizations Unlock New Investments to Support the World’s Most Vulnerable: Partners of the World Economic Forum’s Humanitarian and Resilience Investing Initiative announce over 50 commitments that will boost impact investment and could unlock over $15 billion. Read more here: http://tinyurl.com/yfwac87j

Refugees fleeing Somali civil war receive grants, training, and market access to become entrepreneurs: A new program that trains refugees, displaced by the Somali civil war, to become entrepreneurs and start their own small businesses has launched within the Kobe, Hilaweyn, and Melkadida refugee camps in Ethiopia. Village Enterprise, the nonprofit seeking to end extreme poverty in rural Africa through entrepreneurship, innovation, and collective action, is expanding its DREAMS for Refugees program following success in refugee settlements in Uganda. DREAMS (Delivering Resilient Enterprises and Market Systems) for Refugees is a partnership that merges Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation program with Mercy Corps’ expertise in market systems development to equip refugees with the skills, resources, and market-linkages to start sustainable businesses and graduate from extreme poverty. DREAMS has been operating in Uganda since 2022, and the expansion to Ethiopia is supported by donations from the IKEA Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

ILO's Youth-to-Youth Fund to tackle youth unemployment in Ethiopia: Youth-led organizations in Ethiopia participated in a competition to secure financial and technical support for their proposals to promote decent work and economic inclusion of young people from the host and refugee communities. Read more: https://www.ilo.org/global/programmes-and-projects/prospects/countries/ethiopia/WCMS_908329/lang--en/index.htm

PROSPECTS podcast series: Episode 2: Understanding Digital Risks: Protecting Displaced and Host Communities in the Digital Economy. Digital risks pose significant challenges for refugees and host communities in the digital economy, from identity theft to privacy concerns and more. How do we help people safely navigate and work in the digital economy, in particular on platform work? In this second episode, Dr. Aaron Martin, Assistant Professor of Media Studies and Data Science at the University of Virginia, discusses how these risks impact individuals and businesses in online work. He highlights the need for diverse stakeholders to address these risks, emphasizing the importance of awareness, digital literacy, and fair work environments. Access the podcast here: https://www.ilo.org/emppolicy/projects/of-digital-economy/WCMS_908281/lang--en/index.htm